Limiting false expectations

“Argue for your limitations, and sure enough they’re yours.”

This quote from the book, Illusions: The Adventures of a Reluctant Messiah by Richard Bach, has stuck with me for over thirty-five years. I have found encouragement from these words many times as I’ve encountered one challenge or another. Although, I have come to the conclusion that sometimes it is good to understand our limitations so that we don’t stumble through life with false expectations. I have met quite a few people with false expectations regarding dwarf conifers.

For example, here are three actual quotes from friends I have encountered recently:

Several Picea abies ‘Pendula’s were trained into this living fence.

“I’m looking for a dwarf conifer that will grow to five feet tall and not too wide at maturity.”

“I need something that will grow fast to screen the neighbor’s junk, but the trees need to stop at ten feet so we don’t lose our mountain view.”

“I read about this dwarf conifer that max’s out at three feet – that sounds perfect for filling in under the window.”

One of the really cool things about conifers is as long as they are alive, they keep growing. None of them will grow to a specific “mature” size and then just stop getting larger. Conifers do grow at different rates, or perhaps more accurately, they put on different amounts of new growth each year. Some grow two or three feet per year while others just two or three inches (or less), they push their genetically pre-designated annual growth, whether it be feet or fractions of an inch over the same period of time. It’s just that some put out a much greater amount of new growth than others. We tend to say that they are faster or slower growers because in the same ten, fifteen or fifty year time period, some become very tall trees while others might remain comparatively quite small.

This is a great opportunity to discuss a group of plants whose characteristics allow them to fill a great number of needs in the garden from filling in low spaces to screening the undesirable while preserving important views as well as standing alone as a premium focal point. The wonderful group I’m referring to is The Weepers. (No, not that new pop group that cries throughout their overly dramatic performance of sorrowfully sad love songs.) I’m talking about cool conifers that without a little help from their gardener friends, would be essentially sprawling ground-covers.

Tsuga heterophylla ‘Thorsen’s Weeping’ may be staked to any height.

Fir, Hemlock, Juniper, Pine and Spruce all include at least one great weeping form that may be available from your local independent garden centers, but I’ll be mentioning  just few of my favorites here today. First off, one of the hardiest, most versatile and most readily available may be Picea abies ‘Pendula’. This cultivar is generally found in the local garden center trained up a stake to four or five feet tall. Once the central leader is no longer trained, it will fall over and join all its other branches in their cascade down to the ground. Younger trees may be found that are not as tall and could be allowed to sprawl at whatever height the gardener desires. With proper training, Picea abies ‘Pendula’ will make a densely clothed screen to block an unsightly view and yet be easily maintained at whatever height one might desire without the need for shearing like more conventional hedges.

Tsuga heterophylla ‘Thorsen’s Weeping’ is a fine textured alternative which could also be planted and trained as a living fence, but I prefer this one as a stand-alone focal point which would meet the needs of my first friend quoted above. This “Cousin Itt” plant could easily be trained to any height and it will simply grow as a slender mound, slowly filling out over the years as foliage builds up. Once the branches fall to the ground, they will begin to spread becoming a dense carpet. Of course, the branches could be trimmed to prevent the spread if one desired.

Pinus strobus ‘Stony Brook’ gives the feeling of flowing water in the garden.

Another favorite that is perfect for filling in under a window is Pinus strobus ‘Stony Brook’. This mounding and sprawling Eastern White Pine has an irregular mounding form which, as it grows, will spread and sprawl along giving a water feature effect without all the trouble and mess. Usually found in the garden center trained just a foot or two off the ground, ‘Stony Brook’ will remain low growing and fill the need of my third friend.

Even though each of these friends had something else in mind, once I spent the time discussing growth rates and the pros and cons of buying an extremely slow-growing form in a really large size to fill their need, they began to realize that cost would be prohibitive for them. By helping them think outside the box and by choosing weeping conifers that filled their needs, they were very satisfied with the investment they made in each of their gardens.

Ed-
Conifer Lover

Waves of joy

This current surge of cold weather, and its resulting effect on my aching joints, has reminded me how important thick, dense groundcovers are in the garden. I’m aching just thinking about what a huge chore I would have to face every spring and summer if I didn’t utilize some of the all-natural, year-round, hardy and beautiful ground covering qualities of many exciting conifers. I have enough bare space in my garden that weeds still do manage to pose a challenge to me – but there is less of it every year, due in some part to my groundcovers.

When some folks think, coniferous groundcovers, they may envision low growing carpets of Juniper or Taxus – which are fine examples and can be very effective. Other great plants to cover your ground and ornament your space may include any of a great number of weeping conifers from, Pine and Spruce to Hemlocks and firs.

Like a waterfall, the foliage of Pinus densiflora ‘Pendula’ spills and flows over the ground creating a dense covering to help the fight against weeds.

Some great spreading and ground-covering conifers will, in and of themselves, make fantastic individual specimens, while happily covering bare ground and making less space available for weed seeds to germinate. Others may be much more subtle as they nonchalantly creep and crawl, filling in empty spaces, drape themselves over walls or around rocks, and generally provide a nice low addition of color and texture to the year-round interest of the conifer garden, all while reducing the gardener’s workload.

For example, one great choice is Pinus densiflora ‘Pendula’(Weeping Japanese Red Pine). This delicious bright green pine has long thin needles adorning reddish brown twigs and deeply textured mature bark. If allowed to simply grow naturally, it would build wave upon wave of undulating foliage that mounds and spreads covering as much space as the garden will allow. Most likely found in the independent garden center grafted at a couple feet off the ground or trained on a stake to three or more feet tall, ‘Pendula’ will quickly turn and begin it’s waterfall-like decent to the ground where it will spill and splash and fill in empty space with its lush foliar display. Staked to six or eight feet (or taller) the effect can be absolutely stunning. Keep in mind that the taller the plant is staked, the longer it will take many of the branches to reach the ground and begin to do their job.

Other great choices of ground covering conifers include:
Cedrus deodara ‘Prostrate Beauty’
Cepahalotaxus harringtonia ‘Prostrata’
Juniperus communis ‘Corielagan’
Juniperus conferta ‘Silver Mist’
Juniperus horizontalis ‘Golden Carpet’
Picea abies ‘Pendula’
Picea pungens ‘Procumbens’
Pinus strobus ‘Stony Brook’
Pinus sylvestris ‘Albyn Prostrata’
Tsuga canadensis ‘Pendula’

Ed-
Conifer Lover